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Looking Back At Theros

Magic finance expert Chas Andres revisits his set review of Theros to see how well he analyzed it before release and to learn from his mistakes so he can improve in the future.

It has been almost five months since Theros hit the shelves, and I finally have a good handle on the power level of each card in the set. There’s still time for Born of the Gods and Journey into Nyx to shake things up a little, not to mention the impact of next year’s block, but enough time has passed that I feel comfortable revisiting my set review to see how well I analyzed Theros before release.

The results are not great. I spent twice as much time analyzing Theros as I did on any set in Return to Ravnica block, but many of my predictions were still off the mark. Today I’m going to examine why that happened. Not only will it help me write better set reviews in the future, but it should help me identify sleepers in Theros that still have a chance to break out. Don’t forget that Desecration Demon, Nightveil Specter, and Pack Rat were all close to bulk rares at this point last year, so the final story has yet to be written on many of these cards as well.

The number one thing that drives the price of a Standard-legal card is being well positioned in the format. If we’re going to figure out why some cards hit and others did not, we first have to take a look at what Standard looks like right now.

A Snaphot Of Standard

For all of the casual, Limited, and Eternal players who read this column, here’s a brief overview of what Standard looks like right now:

Mono-Black Devotion: High quality removal, discard spells, and card draw paired with Pack Rats and Gray Merchant of Asphodels to finish the game.

Mono-Black Aggro: A similar removal and discard suite to the devotion deck but with much faster creatures.

Esper Midrange: Small white creatures; Brimaz, King of Oreskos; Obzedat, Ghost Council; and Ephara, God of the Polis mixed with good removal and tempo.

U/W Control: The current Supreme Verdict + Sphinx’s Revelation deck. Runs Jace, Architect of Thought; Elspeth, Sun’s Champion; and countermagic.

B/W Midrange: Similar to Mono-Black Devotion but with Blood Baron of Vizkopas and Elspeth, Sun’s Champions instead of Gray Merchant of Asphodels.

G/R Monsters: A ramp deck with Domri Rade; Xenagos, the Reveler; Xenagos, God of Revels; and the largest possible Polukranos, World Eaters and Stormbreath Dragons to go over the top.

Mono-Blue Devotion: Master of Waves; Thassa, God of the Sea; Nightveil Specter; etc.

There are other viable decks of course, and it’s likely that Born of the Gods will continue to throw monkey wrenches at this list. But if you’re building a Standard gauntlet right now, those are the major decks you’ll be trying to beat.

Historically good decks that don’t exist in large numbers in Standard right now include Mono-Red Aggro, Big Red, Mono-White Aggro, W/R Aggro, Reanimator, Jund Midrange, Bant Hexproof, Bant Control, G/W Aggro, and B/R Aggro. There are aggressive and control decks using black, blue, and white, but the only top build using either red or green right now is a ramp deck.  

With that in mind, let’s see how well I did predicting what Theros cards would see play.

For this set review, I gave each card the price range I expected it to fluctuate within during its time in Standard instead of a single predicted price. It seems kind of wishy-washy in hindsight, but if you read the initial articles, you’ll see that I went into much greater depth on where and when I thought each price would go. If you’re interested in learning more about a specific prediction, the review is in three parts here, here, and here.

Mythic Rares

Purphoros, God of the Forge

  • Price at Release – $25
  • Predicted Price – $20-$25
  • Current Price – $10

We had just come out of a Standard environment where Boros Reckoner and Chandra, Pyromaster were dominant cards. I expected that a Mono-Red Aggro or W/R Aggro deck would continue to exist. It did not, and many of my worst Theros predictions were based on getting this wrong.

While some decks with Purphoros did pretty well at Pro Tour Theros, the deck waned in popularity and was almost gone by the end of 2013. The good news here is that both big and small red decks can take advantage of Purphoros, so if either one makes a comeback this God will see a large uptick in popularity.

I also incorrectly believed that the Gods would maintain an "epic" premium among casual gamers similar to planeswalkers or Eldrazi titans. This did not happen to the extent that I predicted—at least for now. In two or three years, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Gods start climbing ferociously in value, especially if Magic keeps growing.

Thassa, God of the Sea

  • Price at Release – $25
  • Predicted Price – $20-$25
  • Current Price – $16

I overshot on all the Gods, Thassa included. She did spend a decent amount of time in the $25 range after her Pro Tour win, though, so this prediction wasn’t as bad as it looks today. This is a good example of a card I was more or less right about in terms of playability but my price prediction was still way too high.

All cards from fall sets take bigger tumbles than I think over the short to medium term, only threatening to return anywhere near their preorder price a year or more later. Every year I remind myself about this, and every year I overshoot nearly every mythic I evaluate. I need to be more aggressive about price drops going forward.

Erebos, God of the Dead

  • Price at Release – $25
  • Predicted Price – $10-$15
  • Current Price – $10

I was closer to the mark with my prediction on Erebos’ price, but I was still a tad high. I was mostly bailed out by casual interest here, as Erebos is not an essential maindeck card in most Mono-Black Devotion brews.

Nylea, God of the Hunt

  • Price at Release – $15
  • Predicted Price – $10-$15
  • Current Price – $7

I believed that Nylea had sleeper potential due to green being one of the easiest colors to generate devotion for. I was right about that, but even with Nylea Mono-Green Devotion has yet to be more than a small player in Standard. I don’t expect that to change. For the most part, this God has done her damage in games of Draft and Commander.

Heliod, God of the Sun

  • Price at Release – $10
  • Predicted Price – $10-$15
  • Current Price – $6

Heliod has seen the least competitive play out of any God to date, though Brimaz has started pulling him out of the shadows a bit. At $6, there’s a reasonable chance Heliod has hit his floor. It wouldn’t take much more than the amount of play he’s seeing now for the price to double to $12.

Overall, while I misjudged how good the Gods are in tournament play, I look forward to picking them up as spec targets this August or next. They will appeal to the causal crowd for years to come, which should make sealed boxes of Theros block a nice long-term spec target as well.

Xenagos, the Reveler

  • Price at Release – $40
  • Predicted Price – $15-$25
  • Current Price – $15

I feel quite good about my initial evaluation of Xenagos. Here’s part of what I wrote about him:

Xenagos will be the flagship of a tier 2 deck that occasionally flashes tier 1 success. That should keep the card around $15 with spikes to $25 or $30. 

This is pretty close to what actually happened with the G/R Monsters deck. The people expecting Xenagos to stay at $40 were betting on a two-color planeswalker being so good that it would see play as a four-of in multiple tier 1 decks, which never seemed likely to me. He is quite good at what he does, though, so I doubt his price will erode further until he leaves Standard.

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

  • Price at Release – $30
  • Predicted Price – $20-$35
  • Current Price – $25

I predicted that Elspeth would have the biggest impact of the three planeswalkers on Standard, and I was right. While that $20-$35 range feels a tad too high, it does reflect the fact that Elspeth jumped to $40 after release before dropping to the $25 she sells for now. She’s started to see even more play since the release of Born of the Gods, and I wouldn’t be shocked if she hits $35 again at some point this month.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

  • Price at Release – $25
  • Predicted Price – $7-$12
  • Current Price – $10

This was one of my most controversial predictions, especially when Ashiok showed up in a solid deck during the first week Theros was tournament legal. The card ended up having most of the problems I discussed in my review though and proved a little slow and situational for this iteration of Standard.

I stumbled a bit on the Gods, but I nailed all three planeswalkers. This makes sense—the Gods were a brand new type of permanent, and no one really knew what to expect with them. We’ve had planeswalkers for years now, and since they tend to be among the most hyped cards in any set, I’ve written more about them than basically anything else. If analysis is mostly practice and reflection, my planeswalker evaluation skills are fairly well honed.

Stormbreath Dragon

  • Price at Release – $25
  • Predicted Price – $4-$8
  • Current Price – $20

This was another controversial prediction, and boy was it awful. I started to realize I was wrong almost immediately after the set review went live when several of my grinder friends hit me up and told me exactly why Stormbreath Dragon was so good. My biggest mistake was in comparing the card to Thundermaw Hellkite, a rotating card, and Hypersonic Dragon, a totally different creature who isn’t even the same color. That’s like comparing apples to ICBMs, and it colored my analysis from the start.

My other big problem was evaluating the card on its own removed from the context of my other predictions. While I believed that there would be a ramp deck in the format (my Xenagos and Polukranos review back that up), I neglected to realize that both Stormbreath Dragon and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx would be major parts of it. Had I taken more time to think all of my predictions through as a whole, I don’t think I would have missed so badly on this card.

Underworld Cerberus

  • Price at Release – $10
  • Predicted Price – $10-$20
  • Current Price – $2

Okay, there’s no sugar coating how truly awful this prediction was. I was off by a literal factor of ten. It is nearly impossible to make a worse call.

So what went wrong?  First, none of the winning decks right now are in Rakdos colors. No R/B, no Jund, no Grixis, no Aristocrats—nothing. Even if this card is good, it’s clearly not good enough to carry a color pairing by itself.

Beyond that I focused too much on upside without realize just how situational Underworld Cerberus is. Yeah, when you have a jackrabbit start against a creatureless deck and you can use this to get your guys back, it’s pretty good, but against a good chunk of the format, it either does nothing (no enters the battlefield ability) or helps your opponent out as well by giving them back a ton of good utility creatures. I was blinded by how awesome it was along with how it was a card that very few others were touting, and I wanted desperately to make a risky but correct call.

That said, the card is now down to $2. That’s scraping bulk mythic prices. We’ve just been given the R/B scry land and the R/B God. I haven’t seen any great Rakdos lists yet, but it’s possible that I was just a little early on this guy. At $2 each, it’s worth taking a flier on a set. Of course, that’s the same overly optimistic attitude that had me touting Duskmantle Seer three different times last summer.

Master of Waves

  • Price at Release – $10
  • Predicted Price – $4-$8
  • Current Price – $10

It’s hard to believe that this mythic started at $10, won a Pro Tour, and then ended right back up at $10. It was $15-$20 for a while, sure, but that really speaks to just how overpriced all these cards are at release, doesn’t it? This is what I said about Master of Waves in my review:

If Thassa, God of the Sea is good, there’s a realistic chance that this card ends up being quite good as well. It’s going to require a totally different type of blue deck than we’ve seen in quite a while, though, and if the devotion strategy doesn’t pan out, this will end up as a bulk mythic quite quickly. I’m going to hedge a bit and say this is a future tier 2 card in Standard, but pay it very close mind. This is likely either a $2 rare or the next Sphinx’s Revelation.

I contradicted myself a bit here, but I still had a handle on what might occur. Master of Waves didn’t end up being as valuable as Sphinx’s Revelation because you only need it for one deck, and if Mono-Blue Devotion stops being a playable deck (which might happen now that Born of the Gods is here), this card will crash pretty hard. There’s no denying the raw power here, but I’m staying away.

Medomai the Ageless

  • Price at Release – $8
  • Predicted Price – $3-$5
  • Current Price – bulk

I predicted that this card would see no tournament play and was vastly overrated. I was right. Score, right?

Nope. Just like with the Gods, I was too conservative and was simply unwilling to predict a price that would reflect the level of play I expected the card to see. When a mythic I don’t like debuts in the $6-$10 range, it’s so much easier to predict a minor drop—say four or five dollars—than to make the call that it’s going all the way to bulk. This is a logical fallacy that I have tried and failed to move beyond before. I will tape this Medomai prediction to my desk before my next set review and hope it doesn’t happen again.

Polukranos, World Eater

  • Price at Release – $8
  • Predicted Price – $6-$10
  • Current Price – $12

I was higher on Polukranos than most—almost all the other reviewers predicted a major drop—but I wasn’t high enough on him apparently. The big green and G/R decks run four of these, and if the card hadn’t been printed in Heroes vs. Monsters, it would probably be a $20 mythic alongside Stormbreath Dragon.

I think people were down on this guy because the fight ability looked better than it is at first glance, but in a format where ramp is good, this card is a two-for-one that can also finish the game.

Ashen Rider

  • Price at Release – $8
  • Predicted Price – $6-$10
  • Current Price – $3

Much like with Stormbreath Dragon, comparing this to another card threw me off here. In this case, it was Angel of Despair. That card was a beast in Standard, Extended, and even Legacy for many years. Today it’s still a $6 card despite being only good in Commander.

Unfortunately, I vastly overrated the short-term demand for this card. It’s hard for a gold card in a new set to maintain value unless it sees play in Standard, and the current lack of a tier 1 Reanimator build doomed Ashen Rider’s price. That said, I like it as a buy right now. It can’t get much cheaper, casual demand will eventually build, and there’s a chance of a spike if a Reanimator deck does end up taking off. I’m in for a set.

Hythonia the Cruel

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – bulk
  • Current Price – bulk

Even with Mono-Black Devotion being a deck, Hythonia is an afterthought in both Standard and casual play, just as I expected she would be. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Rares

In order to save time, I’m skipping all the cheap rares that I successfully predicted would fall to bulk prices. Those were simple calls to make, and discussing them here won’t add anything to my analysis.

Chained to the Rocks

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $3-$5
  • Current Price – $2

W/R never materialized. Even still, I’ve seen R/W Devotion decks splashing white solely for this card. Given the right God in Journey into Nyx, I can see this making a splash in Standard this spring. It’s not a bad spec target at $2.

Soldier of the Pantheon

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $2-$5
  • Current Price – $4

This card was way down before Brimaz was printed, but now it’s finally starting to use some of its potential. The Cat King should help this Soldier maintain its status as an aggro staple.

Spear of Heliod

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $2-$4
  • Current Price – $3

This was a $3 card to start with, and I predicted stability at that number. With Brimaz running around, it’s back up to $3 again. Spear’s future price is tied to him and how well aggro/midrange Brimaz builds end up doing.

Fabled Hero

  • Price at Release – $2
  • Predicted Price – $3-$5
  • Current Price – $2

This card is capable of doing absurd things, but no white heroic deck (or any heroic deck at all outside of Limited) ever materialized. I also expected more casual interest than we ended up seeing. Aggressive cards that need help to work often fail to pan out, and overrating Fabled Hero’s upside was my mistake again here.

Swan Song

  • Price at Release – $6
  • Predicted Price – $1-$2
  • Current Price – $2

This prediction is a good example of my knowledge of multiple formats paying off. People always overrate freshly printed rares that aren’t good in Standard but will see play in Eternal formats, forgetting that there will be thousands of these printed for each person who’s ever even seen a Legacy deck. We’re seeing the same thing happening again with Spirit of the Labyrinth. Forget about this card until a random buyout in 2016 causes it to spike.

Curse of the Swine

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – bulk
  • Current Price – $1

This card hasn’t fallen as far as I thought it would, and it actually sees play as a one- or two-of in the sideboard of Mono-Blue Devotion. I still expect it to bottom out at $0.50 before long, but it has some long-term potential due to how unique and flavorful it is.

Thoughtseize

  • Price at Release – $30
  • Predicted Price – $20-$30
  • Current Price – $20

Considering how many decks this sees play in across all formats, I doubt Thoughtseize will drop much below $20, even at set rotation. You might have a chance to buy in closer to $17-$18 at some point like you did with Snapcaster Mage, but everyone knows that this is card is a tier 1 Eternal staple. Now is a totally reasonable time to buy a set for personal use, and there’s very little downside.

Hero’s Downfall

  • Price at Release – $5
  • Predicted Price – $3
  • Current Price – $7

I was the victim of bad card comparison again here, unfairly likening this card to both Dreadbore and Detention Sphere. The single color in the casting cost and the instant speed made this the premier removal spell in Theros Standard, and I shouldn’t have focused so much on how much narrower cards were performing financially.

Agent of the Fates

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $1-2
  • Current Price – $1.50

As predicted, this is a fun card that casual players adore, but it’s done nothing in Standard. Agent of Fates is the heroic card closest to being viable, so if the right enabler is printed it might still have a shot. I’m not buying though.

Whip of Erebos

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $4-$6
  • Current Price – $3

I was right when I said that this card would see play, but it been a fringe player, not a flagship. The raw power level here is still off the charts, though, so if a viable Reanimator deck starts making waves the Whip could double in price. I also like it long term due to casual demand.

Hammer of Purphoros

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $3-$5
  • Current Price – $1

I overshot every single red card I evaluated, mythic and rare, except Stormbreath Dragon. That’s pretty awkward. I do think that an aggressive red deck will exist at some point while Theros is in Standard, and when it does, all of these cards will see their price increase.

Anger of the Gods

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $2-$5
  • Current Price – $2.50

This was seeing play in the Big Red and Boros decks that started losing popularity near the end of last year, and the price has taken a dive since then. It’s a great card that lacks a home right now.

Firedrinker Satyr

  • Price at Release – $2
  • Predicted Price – $2-$5
  • Current Price – $1

If Hammer of Purphoros and Chained to the Rocks aren’t seeing play, this little guy doesn’t have much of a chance either. I incorrectly assumed that it would.

Sylvan Caryatid

  • Price at Release – $5
  • Predicted Price – $4-6
  • Current Price – $7

I figured that my prediction of stability between $4 and $6 was bullish, but it’s trading for a solid $7 right now. Every green deck wants this, and it has proven to be both reliable and resilient. The price might even go up a little, as green is currently being underplayed in Standard.

Mistcutter Hydra

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $1-$2
  • Current Price – $5

The best build running green was a ramp deck, and until recently blue was the most powerful color in Standard. Those were the two things that needed to happen for this to take off, which explains why this was one of the only rares in Theros to gain on its preorder price. Now that black is taking over the format instead of blue, I expect the price on this card to start dropping.

Boon Satyr

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $2-$5
  • Current Price – $3

This card jumped toward $8 after it appeared in a couple of decks right away, but it fell off quick as people realized that it was good but not format warping. It sees a solid amount of play in the G/W decks that exist along with some builds of G/R, so I don’t think the price is going to fall any time soon.

Bow of Nylea

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – bulk
  • Current Price – $3

I usually don’t underrate versatility, the hallmark of an excellent card, but I figured all of these abilities were bad enough that this wouldn’t see play. I was wrong. The Bow is versatile enough to keep it from ever being a dead draw, which is enough to make it a player in the format.

Fleecemane Lion

  • Price at Release – $8
  • Predicted Price – $4-$8
  • Current Price – $2.50

This card is close to being great, but it lacks a solid home right now. G/W hasn’t been able to break through in Standard yet, and this guy isn’t quite powerful enough in Modern. If a G/W Aggro deck materializes at some point—bummer that Karametra, God of Harvests isn’t going help make that happen—this will be a juicy spec opportunity.

Prophet of Kruphix

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $1-$2
  • Current Price – $4

People have been drooling over this card’s potential in a Standard Bant shell, but I don’t see that deck ever being too viable. This card’s price is being buoyed almost exclusively by the casual crowd, where it compares favorably with the best cards ever printed for the Simic. I do think it will rise above $5 at some point, but don’t get ahead of yourself—it’s still a rare, not a mythic, in a current set. Chances are you’ll have the chance to buy in at $2 at some point still, so be patient.

Daxos of Meletis

  • Price at Release – $4
  • Predicted Price – $3-$6
  • Current Price – $0.75

I was swayed here by my allegiance to the Azorius and my love of free cards. I underrated just how hard it is to trigger this and just how bad it is to rip a land. Ironically, if this cost UUU, it would probably see a bunch of play. Now that Ephara is a thing perhaps Daxos will start to make some waves, but he hasn’t been on anyone’s radar for a while. I think I had better move on.

Reaper of the Wilds

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – bulk
  • Current Price – $2

This guy wasn’t the breakout hit some thought it would be, but it wasn’t the bulk rare I pegged it as either. In fact, it has started to show up in a couple interesting and competitive decks. It might even be primed for a breakout. I’m still staying away though—it’s just too narrow to ever be worth all that much.

Steam Augury

  • Price at Release – $3
  • Predicted Price – $3-$6
  • Current Price – $0.75

It doesn’t matter how many words you write about a card when you’re wrong. I spilled a lot of ink over Steam Augury, but that didn’t help the card see any play. Again, the comparison to Fact or Fiction was too much for me to get past, and I overrated this based on nostalgia. It might see some play if U/R existed in Standard in any capacity, but Steam Augury alone wasn’t enough to make that happen. At this point it’s basically a bulk rare.

Tymaret, the Murder King

  • Price at Release – $2
  • Predicted Price – $2-$5
  • Current Price – $0.50

I thought a B/R deck based around this guy would be a thing. If I was right, perhaps Underworld Cerberus would be a thing too. Instead I overrated yet another card that was way too narrow and had a very slim chance of breaking out.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

  • Price at Release – $10
  • Predicted Price – $4-$8
  • Current Price – $12

Even though Nykthos is appearing in fewer and fewer devotion lists, the card is still selling for $12 thanks to an overwhelming amount of casual and semi-competitive appeal. It doesn’t work all the time, but when it works well, it’s absurd. Again, I compared this card to Gaea’s Cradle and Cabal Coffers, forgetting that a card even a third as good as those could still make a major impact in Standard.

I think this card will come down a bit now that it’s seeing less play, but the retail price may never go too far below $10. It’s far too cool for that. In the long run, expect it to slowly rise since casual players are going to want these from now until the end of time.

The Scry Lands

  • Price at Release – $6
  • Predicted Price – $5-$10
  • Current Price – $5-$6

These haven’t gone anywhere near $10 yet, but they haven’t gone much below $5 either. A lot is riding on how good next year’s crop of fixing is. If it’s as good or better than shock lands, these will probably never see $10. If they aren’t as good, expect the scry lands to go up significantly.

Why I Was Wrong

This was perhaps the worst set review I’ve ever written. After going back through every last horrible pick, these are the biggest reasons why I missed so many calls.

I priced mythic rares too high. I should have been more aggressive in calling how far many of these unplayed mythics would drop. While many of these cards will rise into the range I predicted over time, my set review does no one any good if the prices aren’t accurate four to six months out.

I overvalued gold cards. I should have listened to my own Xenagos review. Most gold cards can only go in one deck, which makes them much less valuable comparatively than their monocolored counterparts. I ignored this at several crucial junctures.

I overrated upside and undervalued versatility. These are two things I tell people to do over and over again when I write about card evaluation. I just didn’t follow my own rules here.

I made bad comparisons to existing cards. Just because Steam Augury looks like Fact or Fiction doesn’t mean it is Fact or Fiction. Just because Stormbreath Dragon isn’t as good as Thundermaw Hellkite doesn’t make it bad.

I didn’t consider set-wide patterns enough. If I liked Xenagos and Polukranos, why didn’t I like the other ramp cards as much?

Aggressive red decks didn’t pan out. One of the biggest reasons I look so bad here is that all of my aggressive red and W/R predictions were huge misses. I don’t think I evaluated the cards incorrectly; I just didn’t realize they wouldn’t come together well enough to create a competitive deck . . . yet.

I challenge each of you to make your own predictions next time a set is released. Write down one for every card. Check back in a few months and see how you did. I find that my memory overrates the things I got right and sweeps the incorrect calls under the rug. Going back and reviewing the numbers is the only way to see how well I did.

Set reviews are tough, and I screwed this one up pretty badly. Luckily card evaluation is a learned skill, not an innate talent. By seeing what I did wrong, I’m setting myself up for success next time. Looking back at your mistakes can feel horrible and embarrassing, but it’s the only way to improve.

This Week’s Trends

  • There will be a new multiplayer set called Conspiracy released this summer. It will focus on multiplayer draft shenanigans, and it will be awesome. There will probably be a couple of Constructed-viable cards in the packs along with some goodies for Commander and Cube. I highly doubt there will be any high-end constructed Reprints, (fetches, etc.) as Wizards will be focusing on selling these packs to the kitchen table crowd. Financially there will probably be some great long-term spec opportunities here, but save that for a month or two after release. For now I’m just excited to play with the cards.
  • Has anyone seen the "next" run of Commander 2013 decks yet? No store in my area has been restocked in over a month. If that is truly the end of them, expect the prices for singles to start slowly rising.
  • Sealed Modern Masters boxes have finally started to see significant movement. I predicted an eventual plateau $500 each last summer, and I stand by that. It will be at least another year before that happens though.
  • Someone dug through the Magic Online beta (credit Reddit user Atrophos_0) and uncovered promo versions of Geist of Saint Traft and Lion’s Eye Diamond. I expect these to both be online-only promos (MOCS) so the paper prices won’t be affected. Online prices may take a dip.
  • Archangel of Thune is up big this week. I’m selling into hype.
  • Born of the Gods risers: Brimaz, King of Oreskos; Courser of Kruphix; Herald of Torment; and Temple of Enlightenment.
  • Born of the Gods fallers: Flame-Wreathed Phoenix; Karametra, God of the Harvests; Pain Seer; and Spirit of the Labyrinth.

So far this set review is going much better than the last one.